Buckle up - there's lots happening today! The wait is over - the new 2025-26 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is here! You will find a permanent link to the new catalogue on the right hand side of my blog but for today you need look no further than the picture below which will take you straight to the new catalogue: 

The new catalogue is fantastic, with so many great new products to choose from. I've sent paper copies to everyone who has shopped with me in the last 6 months; a digital copy of the new catalogue can be accessed via the image above and it will be permanently linked via my blog on the right hand side if you don’t have a paper copy and wish to browse. If you have your paper copy and just want to go straight to the shop to place your order, click here - and remember to opt in to take advantage of the new Stampin' Up! Rewards Programme! 

There is also a great joining promotion that goes live today to coincide with the launch of the new catalogue:

It’s always exciting to be able to invite people to join our community of crafters and creators. And right now it’s even more exciting because when you sign up between 6 and 31 May to become a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, you can choose £170 worth of products of your choice for only £99 + free business supplies + free shipping + all the fun being a part of Stampin’ Up! - that's an extra £40 more than the standard joining offer!

I would love to chat with you about the benefits of joining my team and being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator; as always, you can always find the link to join my team on the right hand side of my blog page; alternatively it's right here if you fancy jumping right in!

What would you put into your starter kit? There are all those lovely new annual catalogue products for you to choose from, but that's not all: today sees the launch of another wave of Online Exclusive products too! 

There are 2 new suites: the Celebratory Sips Suite and the Floral Impressions Suite, along with lots of other bundles and products too - you can check them out here.

Finally, there are two new kits that have been added to the Kit Collection. The first is the Share A Smile Kit:

This kit makes 8 different uplifting cards (no stamping required) and costs just £14.00. The second is the Beautiful Blues Kit:

This kit makes 9 cards in three different designs and are perfect for sharing messages of friendship, support and sympathy and costs £22 to purchase. You can see more details and order both of these kits in the online store here where you can also access the full range of additional kits available to purchase.

That's a lot of information for one post; if I were you I would put the kettle on, put your feet up and get comfy and settle down with your new catalogue for a browse and start creating that all-important wish list!

Back tomorrow with a creative post featuring some of those lovely new products; until then, happy shopping!

It's the beginning of May and there's lots happening this month so we are starting the month with some announcements! Firstly: we are excited to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day! Starting tomorrow (11pm tonight UK time), for 2 days only (2–3 May) we’re offering DOUBLE Stampin' Rewards on all purchases! What better way to celebrate one of our favourite crafting holidays? And the best part? This offer applies to ALL products, not just scrapbooking items! 

What are Stampin' Rewards and how do you earn them? In summary:

• For every order over £20, you will earn 10% of your entire order in Stampin' Rewards.
• Stampin' Rewards are added to your reward balance and can be spent on a future order (rewards are valid for 12 months). You can treat yourself with your next order, or save up your rewards for something special - you choose
• Log in to your Stampin’ Up! account (at www.stampinup.uk or set one up if you’re new).
• Opt in to the rewards programme.
• Shop and enjoy watching your rewards grow!
  There is also a great video walking you through the steps HERE
• If you don't want to place your own orders, I can generate an order for you and email a link for you to add the payment information. The goods will be delivered direct to you and you will need an account and to have opted in to receive the Stampin’ Rewards.
• You can still ask me to place your order on your behalf and I can have the goods sent to me or you but you will not earn Stampin’ Rewards on these purchases.
• You can select me as your demonstrator so that each time you log in, it will default to shopping with me.  To do this, log in and click ON YOUR NAME on the top right of your account and a drop down menu will appear.  Click on DEMONSTRATOR and search for Joanne James, click in the circle next to my name and I will be selected as your preferred demonstrator.

If you've any further questions about rewards, do give me a call or drop me a line.

Rewards aside, we are officially counting down now - there are only 6 days to go until the new 2025-26 Annual Stampin' Up! catalogue launches!

I have sent out copies to everyone on my catalogue mailing list who has purchased from me in the last 6 months - if you're not on this list but would like to receive a catalogue, then do give me a call on 07773 421446 or drop me an email and I will pop one in the post to you today.

This also means the following: 

You have only a few more days that you can order from the 2024-25 Stampin' Up! catalogue - this includes any of the 'Bundle and Save 10%' bundles. Even though some of the products they contain are being carried over to the new annual catalogue, they will not be available as a discounted bundle. 

You only have a few more days to order from the 2025 January-April Mini Stampin' Up! Catalogue too - a number of the products are being carried over to the new annual catalogue, however we will be saying goodbye to many items and again they will not be available as a discounted bundle. There are still a number of stamp sets and accessories available at a discount on the Last Chance pages - this is the perfect opportunity to grab a bargain!  

That's all from me - back tomorrow with this week's creative post for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy last-chance shopping!

A second post for today with some hot-off-the-press news! From 23-25 April, there will be free shipping on all orders of £60 or more! Details as follows:

• All order types qualify for this promotion.
• Free shipping is for three days only. Orders must be opened and closed during 23-25 April.*
• Free shipping automatically applies to your basket after the qualifying amount has been met, which is 75 € | £60 (before shipping and handling).
• Coupon codes and product credits are non-commissionable and will lower your order’s retail amount. Orders must meet the qualifying amount to be eligible for free shipping.
• The additional cost for expedited shipping is not covered by this promotion.

*Due to the time difference, this promotion will start on 22 April at 11:00 p.m., for Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Click here to go straight to the online store - happy shopping!

I'm here with a quick post to let you know that the Last Chance Products section of the online store has updated today. There are hundreds of new and discounted products from the mini and annual catalogues and online exclusives. You can check them all out HERE; go take a look, there are some great bargains to be had.

There are also three new kits available in the online store today:

The Paper Bouquet Kit: 

 The Essential Occasions Kit:

The Loveliest Wishes Kit:

You can find out more information on any of these kits by visiting the Kits Collection section of the online store.

Happy shopping! 

We are in our second and final month of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion: you all know that this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion will end on 28th February and in addition to hosting and joining benefits (you can read about those here) you also earn a free product for every £55/110 spend - you can see the existing items here.

Good news: from now until the 28th February, there are more reasons to celebrate! You will also be able to choose from the catalogue items below (you must use the special code as detailed as opposed to the usual item code to get one of these items free with a £55/110 spend):

Boy are there some great additional items available! Two new stamp sets from the mini catalogue and two fantastic sets of dies: Trusty Tools and Alphabet A La Mode. 

Remember, you need to use the special Sale-A-Bration item code for each product - these are different to the standard product codes for these items, which are still available to purchase in the annual and/or mini catalogues. If you have your eye on these or any of the other Sale-A-Bration items, do bear in mind that they will only be available whilst stocks last - it is possible that they could run out before the end of the promotion, so don't leave it too late to place your order. 

We also have 2 new kits available as part of the Kits Collection in the online store too:

So much To Celebrate Kit

The So Much To Celebrate kit costs £14.

Heirloom Arrangements Kit

Finally - the Clearance Rack has updated with reductions on last chance products too, so what are you waiting for? Check them out and grab a bargain!

I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy shopping!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for us to work with:

With Valentine's Day just around the corner (it's my wedding anniversary this month too!) there's lots of reasons to make a love-themed card. I actually went in a completely different direction for today's card - although it definitely still fits in with our theme this week. I had been wanting to 'scratch a creative itch' to create something using a couple of my Sale-A-Bration stamp sets; take a look at my card and then I'll explain! Here's my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Stretching Documenting The Day - There's a great stamp set that can be yours free with a £55 purchase during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion: it's called 'Documenting The Day' and is designed primarily with scrapbooking in mind. With several phrases that allow you to build beautiful sentiments around memorable days, the 'Documenting The Day' stamp set is perfect for providing the narrative and accents to your scrapbooking pages. Each of the phrases includes the word 'DAY' in block capitals - see below:

For me, this is where the additional potential of this set comes in. Those letters can be rearranged to make 'DAD' or 'DADDY' too, which opens up a whole new set of possibilities! You could simply snip the letters (shock horror!) of the stamp apart for additional flexibility, or if like me this is something you can't ever bring yourself to do, you can use your stamping platform and some selective inking and masking of the letters to achieve the same effect. Using the stamping platform also allows you to stamp the letters again if necessary to get a nice, solid image. I stamped my word DADDY in Night of Navy onto Basic White cardstock and fussy cut around it to keep the word in one piece. I used a slimline card base to accommodate and allow enough of my background to show around the stamped word. Again, you could stamp and cut the letters out individually to make this step easier (although I don't think it would look as good!)

Friendly Seagulls - The background to my card is a mix of hearts from the 'Documenting The Day' set above and cartons of chips from another Sale-A-Bration stamp set - this time 'Friendly Seagulls'. I also used this stamp set to complete the sentiment on my card, which you can see more closely on the photo below:

I also added another heart and a chip-loving seagull to the inside of my card for a little extra decoration:

Inspired By - So some of my international readers in particular may be wondering where the inspiration for today's card came from. The minute I had both of these stamp sets in my possession, I was reminded of a much-loved advert that was played many times on commercial TV here in the UK in my younger years. I could explain it, but instead I actually found it on YouTube and have included the link below for your viewing pleasure! If you watch it, you will completely understand how it inspired today's card:

This is a real moment of 90's nostalgia for me; I was already in my teens when this advert was being aired on the TV, but there is something about that little Welsh girl that reminds me of my (much) younger self! So the moral of today's post is  - love can be found in the simplest things - including Daddy or chips! For for me it was creating today's card! I'm also playing along at Time Out Challenges where they have a 'Pick Two' challenge - I actually used three things from their list: Food (chips), Heart (background and behind sentiment) and Love (sentiment) and at TGIF Challenges where the theme is Sale-A-Bration:

I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane; here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Have either of these stamp sets made it into your Sale-A-Bration shopping basket yet? We still have one month of this year's promotion to go, so there's still time! I have lots of other ideas using both of these sets that I've still to share with you this month, so be sure to pop back for additional inspiration.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; I'm having a quiet one at home, filled with cooking and crafting and maybe a movie or two! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

Happy New Year everyone! I took an extended blog break over Christmas to spend time with family and loved every minute of it. That said, it's the 7th January and time for a new mini-catalogue and our 2025 Sale-A-Bration promotion so today I'm back to tell you all about it! Once again this year there will be only one Sale-A-Bration promotion: it runs from today until 28th February. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page or below to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet or go directly to my online shopto place an order - we are LIVE!

So how does Sale-A-Bration work? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host.

You can earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £55 you spend between 7 January and 28 February. There is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £110 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for FREE! 

If you host a party or place an individual order with purchases of £275 or more, you can choose an additional £27.50 of products in addition to your standard rewards for FREE!

It’s also one of the best times of the year to join Stampin’ Up! There are two fabulous joining options during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion:  

• OPTION 1: Spend £99 and receive £130 of product of your choice and your choice of TWO marker sets from our Stampin' Write Marker Assortments (Brights, Neutrals, Regals, Subtles) PLUS a beautiful stamp set exclusively designed to work with them:

Or might prefer the following alternative:

• OPTION 2: Spend £99 and receive £160 of product of your choice - that's an extra £30!

There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. Above all else, it's a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals united through a common love of crafting.

If you would like to host a virtual or in-person party, please do get in touch. Equally if you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new January-April 2025 mini catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator; paper copies have been sent to my regular customers. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

There's also a new digital scrapbooking brochure out today:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online and to purchase any of the items, click to go to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

There are new Online exclusives available in the online store today too! The following images show just some of the items available - a number of which co-ordinate with items in the above catalogues:

 Finally, three new kits have also been added to the online store today:

You can get the details on each of the new kits in the online store - click here to go directly to the If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back later with a creative post that uses some exciting new product! That post will go live at noon. Until then, happy shopping!

From 9-11 December, there will be free shipping on all orders of £60 or more! Details as follows:

• All order types qualify for this promotion.
• Free shipping is for three days only. Orders must be opened and closed during 9–11 December.
• Free shipping automatically applies to your basket after the qualifying amount has been met, which is 75 € | £60 (before shipping and handling).
• Coupon codes and product credits are non-commissionable and will lower your order’s retail amount. Orders must meet the qualifying amount to be eligible for free shipping.
• The additional cost for expedited shipping is not covered by this promotion.
• Due to the high volume of orders and the Christmas season, the distribution centre may fall behind our typical shipping timeframes. We will do all we can to return to our regular service levels as quickly as possible. Any orders placed during this promotion are not guaranteed to arrive before or by 24 December. If you need an order by Christmas, consider expedited shipping.

Due to the time difference, this promotion will start on 8 December at 11:00 p.m., for Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Click here to go straight to the online store - happy shopping!

Any day is a good day to shop at Stampin' Up!, but today might just be the best day of the year yet! Why? Well, there are so many opportunities to get 'more for less' today, you really shouldn't pass up the opportunity!

First up - it's the final day of the 15% off stamp sale; yes, that's right you can get 15% off all stamp sets (excluding bundles) that are found in the annual catalogue - that's a great deal! Some of my favourites include the 'Sweet Peas' stamp set and the 'Spotlight on Nature' stamp sets. Here are some reminders of cards that I've made with using these sets:

I shall be taking the opportunity to stock up on sentiment sets and one or two other sets I've had my eye on; with 15% off in addition to my demonstrator discount, it's a bargain!

Secondly - the October kit sale is still on, with 30% off all kits in the Kit Collection. This is a great time to stock up on kits to have on hand as Christmas gifts - both the new 'A Look Back' kit and the no stamping 'Happy Houseplants' kit would make great gifts:

Alternatively, why not grab a kit and enjoy a little pre-Christmas crafting: You could try the 'Christmas Wishes' card kit, or alternatively how about the 'Christmas Ornaments' kit or the 'Rustic Christmas Countdown' advent calendar kit? Both would make great activities to undertake with children during the upcoming half-term school holiday too: 

Both of these offers represent great savings; however the best deal of all has to be the Stampin' Up! starter kit:

Not only do you receive an extra £30 of product in your starter kit, that's £160 for just £99 - you get to include items that are discounted as part of both of the offers I've previously mentioned above, along with exclusive preorder items from next month's Online Exclusives release, an exclusive perk to demonstrators, along with the benefits of joining my Stampin' Up! team and the wider Stampin' up! community - and we would love to welcome you!

Whilst it's only the stamp sale that's ending today - both the Kits Collection promotion and the Starter Kit Offer will be available throughout the month of October - today really is the best day of the month to get the biggest 'bang for your buck'. So, if you'd like to place an order then do click the link to my online store, click here to join my team or get in touch with me today to arrange to place your order or chat more about the benefits of joining Stampin' Up! and what it means to be a part of my team.

Also - for those of you who signed up to watch and/or participate in Stampin' Up!s World Card making Day Virtual Class last Saturday, be sure to check your post-session emails as you have a money-off coupon that can be used against your next order too!